Nov. 9, 1905. Dear Mr. Powers,—I should accept your hospitable offer at once but for the fact I couldn’t do it and remain honest. That is to say if I allowed you to send me what you believe to be good cigars it would distinctly mean that I meant to smoke them, whereas I should do nothing of the kind. I know a good cigar better than you do, for I have had 60 years experience.
No, that is not what I mean; I mean I know a bad cigar better than anybody else; I judge by the price only; if it costs above 5 cents I know it to be either foreign or half-foreign, and unsmokeable. By me. I have many boxes of Havana cigars, of all prices from 20 cts apiece up to 1.66 apiece; I bought none of them, they were all presents, they are an accumulation of several years. I have never smoked one of them and never shall, I work them off on the visitor. You shall have a chance when you come.
Pessimists are born not made; optimists are born not
made; but no man is
born either pessimist wholly or optimist wholly, perhaps;
he is
pessimistic along certain lines and optimistic along
certain others.
That is my case.
Sincerely
yours,
S.
L. Clemens.
In spite of all the fine photographs that were made of him, there recurred constantly among those sent him to be autographed a print of one which, years before, Sarony had made and placed on public sale. It was a good photograph, mechanically and even artistically, but it did not please Mark Twain. Whenever he saw it he recalled Sarony with bitterness and severity. Once he received an inquiry concerning it, and thus feelingly expressed himself.
To Mr. Row (no address):
21
Fifth Avenue, new York,
November
14, 1905.
Dear Mr. Row,—That alleged
portrait has a private history. Sarony was as
much of an enthusiast about wild animals as he was
about photography; and when Du Chaillu brought the
first Gorilla to this country in 1819 he came to me
in a fever of excitement and asked me if my father
was of record and authentic. I said he was;
then Sarony, without any abatement of his excitement
asked if my grandfather also was of record and authentic.
I said he was. Then Sarony, with still rising
excitement and with joy added to it, said he had found
my great grandfather in the person of the gorilla,
and had recognized him at once by his resemblance
to me. I was deeply hurt but did not reveal this,
because I knew Saxony meant no offense for the gorilla
had not done him any harm, and he was not a man who
would say an unkind thing about a gorilla wantonly.
I went with him to inspect the ancestor, and examined
him from several points of view, without being able
to detect anything more than a passing resemblance.